MoMo

Melbourne’s Collins Street is New York’s 5^th Avenue, London’s Mayfair precinct, Hong Kong’s Peak District. Anybody who is anybody in Melbourne covets a Collins Street address. Located in the swanky surrounds of the Grand Hyatt at the «Paris-​end» of Melbourne, and accessed by its own private elevator, Momo is a bastion of heady luxury — sheer opal drapes, elegant cream décor, glistening swarovski crystal lighting, diners seated at plushly upholstered furniture, serviced by an entourage of uniformed staff. By contrast to vast numbers of Melbourne restaurants that have strayed to the casual, bistro end of the dining spectrum, Momo is arguably the finest example of finest fine dining in Melbourne.
…Highly reccommended for a memorable quiet celebration or romantic evening, Momo is the epitome of an all-​round fine dining experience: flavoursome and sizeable food and irresistible ends, sampled in an opulent setting, and complemented by the most professional, courteous, personable and knowledgeable of service staff, who actually also smile. Momo is everything that fine dining should be and more. It certainly sets a high standard for other Melbourne restaurants to thrive towards.

So. Momo.
This review could get emotional, so I’ll try and stick to the facts:
1. The fitout is completely spectacular. You feel like you’re royalty enjoying a banquet in a hidden minimalist modern day palace.
2. The food is scrumptious… out of this world and surreal — you know, when later you have a hard time remembering exactly what you ate but can remember how it made you feel like it was yesterday?
3. The sommelier is incredible. My husband and I actually followed him from a previous restaurant here because our first experience with him was so immaculate and memorable.
And here’s the BUT.
My husband and I visited Momo not long after it opened when we were looking for a restaurant to have an intimate post-​wedding dinner (just shy of 40 people).
We loved this place. We came home raving about it and talking about how wonderful it was going to be.
And then I got very, very, VERY Exorcist-​level sick.
As it turned out, me being sick had little to do with Momo. You see, this is when I first discovered I can’t eat gluten.
I wrote to Momo asking for the detail of some ingredients we’d had in dishes that night to pass on to my doctors. Their response was «at your age, you should know what you’re allergic to». We wrote to the owner, saying how much we’d enjoyed our experience and that we were disappointed by this person’s attitude, to which he sent a reply suggesting that we were known for being difficult customers across Melbourne (?!).
So in summary, Momo is gorgeous… but for the appalling experience we didn’t book the place out for our dinner, we haven’t visited again and I’m now giving them two stars.
IN YOUR FACE! :-|